10 Best Normal Monsters In Yu-Gi-Oh
Normal isn't always boring.
Normal monsters aren't very exciting. While crucial to the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh they quickly earned the nickname 'vanilla' for being bland and only having the job of attacking or defending.
The anime did a great job at making normal monsters look exciting and relevant and a lot of decks in modern-day Yu-Gi-Oh should be thankful for how these iconic normal monsters were portrayed.
Decks that feature the Blue-Eyes White Dragon or the Dark Magician would certainly be less appealing if not for the ruthlessness of Kaiba or the kind-hearted Yugi Moto.
Every now and then a normal monster would rise up and push a particular archetype to the top of the metagame. New support tailor-made for a particular kind of normal monster would push the otherwise 'bland' card to its limits.
Just like with the '10 Most Broken Spell Cards in Yu-Gi-Oh', we'll be focusing on the entire competitive history of Yu-Gi-Oh. This means that while some of these normal monsters may be slightly out of date by today's standards, they certainly changed the way the game functioned at some point in time.
10. Gemini Elf
Gemini Elf set the standard for what a level four normal monster should do. The first monster to have 1900 attack with zero downsides was huge.
Prior to its printing in 2003's Labyrinth of Nightmare, the benchmark for attack was set at 1800 by staples such as 7 Coloured Fish and La Jin, the Mystical Geanie of the Lamp.
Card advantage was huge back in the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh! and to simply have your 1800 attack position monster get run over was an instant minus one.
Gemini Elf sold for around £50 when it was first released, as it was simply the most efficient normal monster out there. The fact that it was a spellcaster, a very prominent type didn't hurt either.
Eventually, other monsters got the '1900 attack' treatment such as Magicians Force Luster Dragon and by the 2006 era a normal monsters attack stop being the major selling point.
9. Red-Eyes Black Dragon
An anime and fan favourite, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon has always been one of the most iconic monsters in the game.
The thing about boss monsters from the early days of the anime is Konami love to print support for them. In the show, Joey and his signature Red-Eyes were all about direct damage, and this was reflected in later Red-Eyes support such as Inferno Fire Blast and Meteor Black Comet Dragon.
Red-Eyes has never been top tier but all that's about to change with the 2020 Summer Mega-Tins printing Dragun of Red-Eyes, a powerful fusion monster of both the Dark Magician and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
Staying on brand the Dragun of Red-Eyes destroys monsters and inflicts damage equal to their attack. The monster does a bunch of other things like negating effects but the main thing you need to know is it's been tearing up the competitive scene in the OCG and will surely do the same when it drops in the TCG in just few months.
Galaxy Serpent is a level two normal tuner monster with 1000 attack.
The main reason to use this card is alongside Draconnet, a level three effect monster that allows you to special summon a level two normal monster from your hand or deck in face-up attack position.
The reason why we want Galaxy Serpent is due to the fact that it's a tuner monster, and we can synchro it into a level five synchro.
Galaxy Serpent is also a normal level two with high attack, so just in case we have to attack with it or for whatever reason, our combos or later plays are stopped, you always want the most efficient monster defending you.
In the 2019 format, these two cards could make Ib, the World Chalice Justiciar, a powerful level five synchro monster. while Ib was eventually banned the pair still function as a way to link summon Crystron Haliqifibrax, one of the most broken link monsters every printed.
Galaxy Serpent and Draconnet go hand in hand and expect to see them in future Yu-Gi-Oh formats as a way to get two monsters on the field with ease.
7. Gem-Knight Garnet
Gem-Knight Garnet is a level four 1900 attack pyro monster that debuted in 2011s Hidden Arsenal.
The reason this card features on this list is because of its interaction with Brilliant Fusion. Brilliant Fusion allows us to fusion summon one Gem-Knight monster from our extra deck using monsters from our deck as material.
This latter part was unlike anything Yu-Gi-Oh had seen at the time and the main target was Gem-Knight Seraphinite, a fusion monster that allowed for an additional normal summon.
As we've already touched upon, a level four monster with 1900 attack and no downside is great, while not the direction Yu-Gi-Oh was heading in in 2011 Gem-Knight Garnet could easily run over whatever normal summon your opponent made during this time.
Gem-Knight Garnet really did everything you needed from a card and even now the term 'Garnet' is used in Yu-Gi-Oh terminology to describe a normal monster that you use to help summon or cheat into play another more powerful monster.
6. Dragonpit Magician
Dragonpit Magician is a level seven pendulum monster, for those of you who might have missed this era of Yu-Gi-Oh a pendulum monster can be both a monster or a spell card - if you choose to play it as a spell card it goes face-up in your spell/trap zone.
While technically two cards in one, the monster side of Dragonpit magician is a normal monster with 900 attack and 2700 defence, but we're playing it for its continuous effect when it's face-up in our pendulum zone.
By discarding one other pendulum card we're able to destroy one of our opponent's spell or trap cards. The effect is limited to once per turn but Dragonpit Magician is searchable off of Pendulum Call and certain pendulum decks want to dump monsters in the graveyard, so they can be special summoned later in the duel.
The fact that it has decent scales makes this card one of the best normal monsters ever printed, even if its kinda cheating putting him on the list....
5. Flamvell Guard
Flamvell Guard is a level one normal tuner monster with 100 attack and 2000 defence. The defence is pretty impressive for a level one monster but this card deserves to be on this list because of it's type and attribute.
Flamvell Guard saw extensive play during every incarnation of the Dragon Ruler format. For those of you not playing back then, the Dragon Rulers where the most dominant deck at the time. Even later on, when certain Dragon Rulers were limited or banned - known as the mythic Dragon Ruler format - the deck was still the best until all the major Dragon Rulers were eventually banned.
Flamvell Guard worked with Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos, and particularly well in conjunction with Dragon Shrine - allowing you to easily fill up your graveyard to special summon more dragons and extend your plays via the extra deck.
Flamvell Guard is also a tuner monster so it allowed for any level eight synchro monster in conjunction with any Dragon Ruler. It also opened up a 'toolbox' style extra deck with powerful synchro monsters such as Colossal Fighter or Crimson Blader.
4. Dark Magician
Yugi's legendary boss monster has the same appeal as other cards on our list but never quite broke into the competitive scene until 2019 with the printing of Magicians Soul.
While being physically weaker than Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Konami had to play to different strengths when making the Dark Magician relevant in the TCG.
There are a ton of cards that can be used in conjunction with the Dark Magician that do everything from destroying monsters or destroying spell and traps.
In the anime, the Dark Magician would never stay dead and Yugi would often special summon it over and over in a single duel. This essence is captured beautifully on Eternal Soul, a trap card that allows us to special summon the Dark Magician once each turn absolutely free.
Dark Magician is a fan favourite and there's even a sub-theme of using the Dark Magician alongside the Dark Magician Girl meaning this legendary magician will be at the forefront of Yu-Gi-Oh for a long time to come.
3. Blue-Eyes White Dragon
In the early days, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was - and still is - the best normal monster in terms of attack, although requiring two tributes to summon the Blue-Eyes meant it wasn't the easiest monster to play.
As Yu-Gi-Oh progressed, Konami looked at ways to cheat the Blue-Eyes into play, at first with Paladin of White Dragon and later with the White Stone of Ancient. The role the Blue-Eyes plays in the deck has changed so much but that's only because of the cards that surround it.
There are so many cards that should be thankful for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and without it, say if it was ever banned, tons of cards would literally be useless. It's great watching this beast evolve, in the anime we watched it blow away many a monster, so this theme was captured in Burst Stream of Destruction, a spell card that destroys all of your opponent's monsters if you control a Blue-Eyes.
In the Dark Side of Dimensions movie, we were introduced to the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, a new take on the Blue-Eyes, a card that made Blue-Eyes the best deck in 2016, even taking down the world championship.
There is something about this shining beacon that appeals to a boy of 10 and a 33-year-old and it's exciting to think we'll continue to see new and innovative cards that revolve around the legendary engine of destruction for years to come.
2. The Limbs Of Exodia
The limbs of Exodia are essential for summoning Exodia the Forbidden One and invoking the alternative win condition of instantly winning the duel.
Each piece, the Left and Right Arm of the Forbidden One and the Left and Right Leg of the forbidden One are essential to any Exodia deck and just like the head of Exodia have always been limited to one copy per deck.
The competitive viability of Exodia has always gone from absolutely unplayable to 'oh my god this deck could be broken with the right draws'. However, being normal monsters is actually a huge advantage for the limbs.
Each piece of Exodia can be searched out via the effect of Sangan, Witch of the Black Forrest and Emissary of Darkness, not to mention the fact that you can stall the game out with spell cards such as One Day of Peace and Swords of Revealing Light.
The Limbs of Exodia are some of the most iconic ultra-rare (and most disappointing to open) cards from the early days, and their notoriety and legacy isn't going away any time soon.
1. Mystical Shine Ball
Mystical Shine Ball is a level two normal monster with 500 attack. That's it guys, greatest of all time. Its not even a tuner monster but still commands the top spot!
Mystical Shine Ball goes hand in hand with the Agent of Creation - Venus and has done since the two cards were released in Ancient Sanctuary back in 2004.
Venus allows us to pay 500 life points to specifically summon one Mystical Shine Ball from our deck. The cool thing is this isn't limited to once per turn, so if you go first and normal summon the Venus by paying 1500 life points you're able to summon three Shine Balls from your deck and just like that you now have four monsters on the field.
We've already touched upon how broken it is to get two monsters from just one card like with Draconnet and Galaxy Serpent but this is one of the only cards that allows us to generate four monsters from one card.
With four monsters on the field just from one card, we're able to abuse the link summoning mechanic and go into all kinds of monsters. If link summoning isn't your thing you can always wait one turn and tribute the three Shine Balls for either of the Egyptian God Cards!
Really the sky's the limit with this effortless card. For as long as its beneficial to have multiple monsters on the field (spoiler - it always will be) Mystical Shine Ball and the Agent of Creation Venus are your top picks!
Did you agree with this list? Please check out for more single cards at Transcendcard to find out more powerful monster cards like these!
Leave a comment